Mark Koenig and a Legend

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The following is an excerpt from a book, The Least Among Them, I am writing about the Yankees that is currently in development:

            Mark Koenig was the Yankees starting shortstop for three seasons from 1926 through 1928.  Koenig was an erratic fielder, leading the league in errors in 1926 and 1928.  As a batter, he  usually served as the number two batter in the line-up,  hitting just before Babe Ruth.  After batting .319 in 1928 and .292 in more limited duty in 1929, Koenig got off to a slow start in 1930.  By the end of May, he was batting only .230.  On May 30, 1930, the Yankees traded Koenig, along with future Hall-of-Famer Waite Hoyt to the Detroit Tigers for Ownie Carroll, Harry Rice, and Yats Wuestling.  Of the three, only Harry Rice, who played 100 games for the Yankees in 1930 (batting .298) had any significant impact on the team.  After the trade, Koenig bounced between four teams over the remaining six years of his career, but during that time he influenced one pennant race and, in an indirect way, one of the most legendary moments in the history of baseball.

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NY Yankees in WWII

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The following is an excerpt from a book, The Least Among Them, I am writing about the Yankees that is currently in development:

Over five hundred Major League baseball players enlisted or were drafted into the United States Armed Forces during World War II.  Of course, not all of these players saw combat or dangerous action.  In fact, during the war years there was some criticism that star players, being very athletic, were not more involved in combat.  This certainly wasn’t true of all big league players.  Former (and future) professional baseball players were present at most of the important engagements of the war.  This includes numerous players who wore the Yankee pinstripes.  The following list summarizes some of the battlefield action faced by Yankees players in World War II.

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The Messages We Send

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Last Saturday I went out for a long run.  It’s one of the pleasures of spring time…getting outside in the warm air and enjoying the struggle of covering mile after mile after mile. 

As I ran, I started to notice something very interesting that we most often take little notice of – traffic signs.

As a society we seem to have a fascination with traffic signs.  It is as if we love them or at least feel the need to put them all over the place.  Once I noticed how many there are, I couldn’t help but be amazed.  They are literally everywhere. 

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I Was Superman

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As a runner, I was Superman.  But, that was a while ago.

When I started running marathons, I thought I was invincible.

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The Mystery Tour

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This is the third installment of a three part series that discussed the creative competition between the Beatles and the Beach Boys in the mid-1960’s.

Please click here for Part One – Getting Better

Please click here for Part Two – The Power of the Individual

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Ramanujan!

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It has been said, although I would hardly claim this as an absolute fact, that a person only will need to read a year’s worth of my blog posts to learn, as much, or more than any traditional four year program at Harvard University or Trinity College in Cambridge.  

It has been said, although, I have never had the theory tested, that readers of this blog will see their IQs grow by no fewer than 25 points over the course of a calendar year.

Mind you, these are just claims with no definitive proofs.  Because we’d need proof.  Or so they told Srinivasa Ramanujan.  But, alas! I am getting ahead of myself.

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The Power of the Individual

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(If you missed Part I of this series, you may wish to go back and read it.  This passage builds off a central theme of that first piece.)

Sometimes when we hear the exploits or passions of people or groups that are highly successful we think, “That’s great, but that can’t be me.”  We often tend to downplay our own impact on others.  We doubt our abilities to make a positive difference.

And, bluntly, sometimes that is easier.  It is much easier to say, “I can’t” than to go out and try to change the world, or if not the world, something in your own life.  Often times, we look at the roadblocks, real or perceived, that will prevent us from working towards a worthy goal. 

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New York City – Photo VI

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I love New York City!

I greatly enjoy taking pictures on my visits to New York – The Greatest City in the World!

Occasionally, I’ll share a few of my favorite photos.  I hope you enjoy them.

Sometimes the pictures I enjoy the most are the ones that didn’t seem to come out as planned.  Yet, this picture, off center with a very overcast background, seems to really “work.”  I really love this shot.

This picture, of the Statue of Liberty, was taken from a cruise ship in February 2014.

 

 

 

Is This…?

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I love baseball.

My dad loves baseball even more than I do.

That’s where this story begins…and ends.  It’s what this story is all about.  Baseball.

The American Game.

The Great American Game…

Well, maybe it’s about more than that.  It’s about fathers and sons.

And baseball.

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The Search for a Semmendinger Camera

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NOTE – The following passage was originally written in 1998.  This article was published in CASCADE PANORAMA the newsletter or the Cascade Photographic Historical Society in their January 1999 issue.

I have made some modifications to the original article, but, for the most part, have tried to keep this passage true to its original form.

***

I am a descendant of August Semmendinger, an early camera maker.  For the first thirty years of my life I knew little about August Semmendinger and had never seen any of the cameras he made or any of the four patents that he held. 

The following is a summary of how I came to find, and own, a Semmendinger Camera of my very own.

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